Zurich Insurance has sold its insurance businesses in Morocco and Taiwan to Allianz Group and Hotai Motor, respectively, as part of its efforts to cut costs and reshape its geographic footprint.
Germany’s Allianz Group has agreed to buy Zurich Assurances Maroc for EUR244 million (US$276.7 million). Pending regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close end of 2016.
Zurich Assurances Maroc currently ranks seventh in the country’s property and casualty market and serves more than 600,000 customers. In 2015, the insurer generated EUR114 million in GWP. The company also has a licence for life and health insurance products, which Allianz plans to utilise.
Allianz Group, which now has presence in 15 African countries, views Africa as one of the important future growth markets. The acquisition in Morocco, Africa’s second-largest insurance market after South Africa, marks an important step for Allianz to be well positioned to capture future growth in the African region.
Separately, Hotai Motor Co, the sales agent for Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp in Taiwan, said its board of directors has approved the plans to buy a 99.73% stake in Zurich Insurance’s general insurance operations for NT$6.4 billion (US$198.5 million). The deal, pending regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed by early January 2017.
In 2015, Zurich’s general insurance business in Taiwan generated GWP of around $118 million and net income of $10.6 million.
“Zurich’s decision to sell its general insurance business in Taiwan follows a comprehensive assessment that found, while the market in Taiwan remains attractive, there was limited scope for Zurich’s general insurance business to achieve an operating scale that warranted continued investment. The sale is seen as the ideal outcome for customers, the Group and the Taiwanese insurance market,” the insurer said.
At the Group’s Investor Day in May 2015, Zurich stated that reshaping its geographic footprint would be one of its highest priorities over the next two years as it seeks to build a more sustainable business while also improving overall profitability.
EUR1 = US$1.13; NT$1 = US$0.03